1. Technical Field
The invention relates to methods and materials involved in diagnosing and treating autoimmune conditions. In particular, the invention relates to methods and materials involved in diagnosing arthritis conditions that are accompanied by an NADPH oxidase deficiency, methods and materials involved in treating, preventing, or delaying the onset of arthritis conditions that are accompanied by an NADPH oxidase deficiency, and methods and materials involved in identifying agonists and antagonists of NADPH oxidase activity.
2. Background Information
Autoimmune conditions are conditions where a mammal's immune system starts reacting against its own tissues. Such conditions include, without limitation, arthritis (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis (RA)), multiple sclerosis, lupus, autoimmune uveitis, type I diabetes, bronchial asthma, septic arthritis induced with staphylococci or streptococci, and cardiovascular disease involving vasculitis.
RA is a chronic inflammatory disease that can be found in about 1-2% of the population. RA primarily affects peripheral joints where inflammatory synovitis leads to cartilage destruction, bone erosion, and ultimately to joint deformity and loss of joint function. RA is a complex disease in that both environmental factors as well as multiple chromosomal regions are involved in susceptibility to RA. Inducers of arthritis in animal models include adjuvants, collagen (e.g., collagen type II) (collagen induced arthritis (CIA)), hexadecane (hexadecane induced arthritis (HIA)), oil (e.g., Freund's incomplete adjuvant), squalene (squalene induced arthritis (SIA), and pristane (pristane induced arthritis (PIA)). Chromosomal regions known to be associated with development of RA include the major histocompatibility complex region. In addition, different genomic regions are known to control different phases of the disease such as onset, severity during the acute onset phase, and the severity of the destruction in the chronic relapsing phase.